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Rev. ROBERT J. BRECKINRIDGE, D.D, LL.D, 



STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 



I. At the Opera House, Cincinnati, on Tuesday Evening, May 20, 1862, by invitation 

of many leading citizens of that City. 

II. During a Debate in the Presbyterian General Assembly, at Columbus, Ohio, on 

Thursday, May 22, 1862. 



CINCINNATI: 

PRESS OF E. MORGAN & CO. 

1862. 



MC-hs 191S 



WHEELER §5 WILSON'S 

SEWING MACHINES. 




AWARDED riRST PREMIUM 

AT THK 

UAHTED STATES FAIRS of 1858, 1859, and 1860, 



AND AT TUE 



OHIO STATE FAIR'S of 1858, 1859, 1860, and 1861. 

The salos of this msiehinc in 1861, "wero over 20,000, or equal to the sales of all 

other sewing machines combined. Machines Warranted Three Years. 

WM. SUMNEE & CO., Agents, 
No. 77 West Fourth St., Pike's Opera House, Cincinnati. 



From the Cincinnati Gazette. (Editorial.) 
Dr. Breckikhidgk's AnDRF.s.o. — A large company asBoniMed at the Opora Hou«e to listen (o th« 
address upon the state of the country by tliis distinguished minister. The occasion was in every 
way successful, and must have a happy effect. No new positions were offered ; but the substantial 
situation of affairs, the powers aud prospects of the r.overnment, was canvassed with force, truth, 
and, at times, eloquence. No one present could have been at any loss as to the position of the 
speaker, on the great question now before this country. He was as emphatic as lie was clear, in 
the expression of his views. We print the address verbatim, and an opportunity is thus afforded, 
for the people to read that wliich was heard with so much pleasure aud profit, by one of the finest 
audiences ever assembled iu Cincinnati. 

[Reported for the Cincinnati Gazette.] 
Pike's Opera House was well filled last night, notwithstanding 
the inclemency of the weather, bj a highly intelligent audience, 
which assembled to hear an address by Rev. Dr. Breckinridge, 
on the State of the Country. At 8 o'clock, precisely, the exer- 
cises were opened with prayer by Rev. Asa D. Smith, D.D., of 
New York, after which 

Judge Storer made the following remarks, in introducing the 
speaker to the audience : 

Fellow Citizens — It is with great pleasure I am called upon 
to introduce to you the Rev. Dr. Breckinridge of Kentucky, one 
who has profoundly and reverently discussed the interests of the 
Government, and ably and gloriously sustained the same. He 
appears before you as an American citizen, as well as a Christian 
minister, vindicating his Master's mission, by proving his loyalty 
to the Government under which he was born, and which it is his 
pious duty to sustain. I introduce now to you the Reverend 
Doctor. [Applause.] 

SPEECH OF DR. BRECKINRIDGE. 

I beg leave, my friends and fellow-citizens, to say that I should 
by no means venture to present myself before you or ask your 
consideration to anything that I can oifer on a subject which has 
been discussed by far abler persons than myself. I have endeav- 
ored to give myself unreservedly away to the service of our great 
country, which we all love so dearly, in the midst of these terrible 
times. Under the impression of that fact, and on account of the 
partiality of many of your worthy and distinguished fellow-citi- 
zens to lay upon me their commands, if I may so say, to address 
you on the particular aspects of a great subject agitating all our 
minds, that I have not felt willing to refuse. Oppressed with the 
infirmities of advancing life, and cares more weighty than at any 
other period, I beg that you will have patience to listen to what 
I shall endeavor, in my weakness, to say to you. 

It is upon the state of the country as it now is, that I have been 
asked to speak to you ; and I have endeavored, in arranging my 
remarks, to pursue such a line of observation, as should be in 



6 SPEECH OP DR. BRECKINRIDaE. 

some degree connected in itself, and in some degree directing our 
thoughts to the end that all good men and patriotic citizens ought 
to desire to reach, as the end of all these troubles which surround 
us. " The State of the Country," as it is now, should be under- 
stood — should be the subject of our meditations. 

As we would direct it to the ends we would desire, requires that 
we should have precise, clear views concerning what these ends 
are, and precise and clear views concerning the nature of the 
political and social systems of the country itself, and of its capa- 
bilities of doing the things we desire to have done, as well as 
precise views concerning the actual posture of things. For, you 
will observe, that the fundamental idea of all these difficulties lies 
precisely in the question, whether or not we are a nation at all ; 
whether or not our social system is not of that kind that it is 
rather a constitution than a league — rather a gathering together 
of sovereignties that have no superior, than a nation of itself. 
Now as a basis of all our principles, and as the end of all our 
efforts as loyal persons fighting for the life of the nation, it is 
necessarily involved that we should believe we are a nation. Have 
we not had a great career as such, and is it not that we don't 
intend to permit that career to be cut short as such? Have we 
not before us a sublime destiny? and we do not intend that that 
destiny should be destroyed. Is it not that the whole glory and 
the whole blessedness, which God has given us, points to some- 
thing beyond — not only for this world in which we live, and the 
glory which God has permitted us to enjoy — that we should serve 
his wishes regardless of consequences. 

In^the first place, we should consider that this mistaken people 
are a nation, and not a mere league of people bound together 
by ties that may be broken at any moment; but it is undoubtedly 
true, at the same time, that our national existence is eminently 
peculiar, one consisting not merely of individual persons,' but con- 
sisting of subordinate sovereignties, which we call States — a 
nation made up of States and having no existence but as those 
States exist, and States constitute a nation which have no exist- 
ence as States, but as States constituting that nation. Well, 
now, here you find this state of heresy and of Secession, and you 
find it, I am sorry to say, in the double form, and extremely 
adverse from each other ; and it is in order to point out the fatal 
termination of all these things, that our triumph, as great as it 
may be, it is necessary that these things should be preserved, 
and I will therefore endeavor to draw your attention to these 
matters. It is true that State after State may be sovereign, and 
may withdraw from the Confederacy and break up the Union, 
but the Union is no more destroyed and ruined in that way than 
it is true to a theory propounded in the United States Congress, 



SPEECU OF DR. BRECKINRIDGE. 9 

that they cannot withdraw by an act of absolute power. Only 
can they do it by fraud and deceit, and thus cease to be a State, 
and return to the Union only as Territories, coming back to the 
Confederacy upon terms dictated by the balance of the States^ 
On the other hand, it is the ruin of the country that States should 
be allowed to secede deliberately. The social and political sys- 
tem of the country is utterly destroyed, and it is upon the res- 
toration of the national life, and upon the restoration of that 
Union as it stood, as far as human powers can aid in the preser- 
vation of the Union as a nation made up of sovereignties ; and 
it is to the preservation of the Union, constituting a nation, that 
all efforts should be directed; and even the President of the 
United States, in his inaugural address, pointed to that great end, 
and all the parties, except those in the extreme, have confessed 
that this should be the glorious end. This is what we aim at, 
and this is the aim to which we direct all our efforts. Is it not 
a worthy aim ? Is it not sufficient, even if there were none other ? 
Is it not the best ground that the nationality shall not be de- 
stroyed ? Is it not a ground worthy of the American people ? 
and, if there were no other reasons, that they will not allow that 
this Union shall be brought down from the eminence to which 
God has raised it, and passed to a great variety of subordinate 
States, warring with each other, and subjected to the encroach- 
ments of all foreign powers? 

Has not God given us one Continent, and is it too much that 
human liberty should possess one-fourth of the world, and pos- 
sessed under circumstances of the greatest blessings of God, and 
the greatest privileges enjoyed by man which have ever been man- 
ifested to man upon earth? [Cheers.] 

Is it not more than justice, and is it not overwhelmingly our 
duty — and will not the shades of our ancestors cry to us to-day — 
will not posterity tax our memory if we do not exert ourselves 
to preserve the Union which our glorious ancestors handed to us, 
and in the way that it may run on as it has run for the last cen- 
tury in its glorious career ? And we trust it will go on prosper- 
ing and to prosper. [Cheers.] 

Now it appears to me that the aim of this treason, rebellion, 
and war — all the misery and calamity that you behold around 
you — is directed to the end of destroying and subverting this 
Union — first into two, and afterward into how many God alone 
in His infinite wisdom knows. 

On the other hand, as I have before suggested, the whole effort 
of the nation — its fundamental principle is to preserve, and 
restore, and to perpetuate, as we have received, this inheritance 
by God and transmitted to us by our fathers. The treason is 
against this country ; the military efforts of one section of the 



10 SPEECH OF DR. BRECKINRIDGE. 

country are against this nation. The anarchy which every where 
prevails, wherever secession and treason is gone, is an anarchy 
which spreads itself out in every portion of the Union, and if it 
succeeds, results in the ruin of the nation. This is the state of 
the country which in this broken manner I have endeavored to 
lay before you. Now, as it seems to me under circumstances 
like these, the very first lesson we draw from the actual state of 
the country is, that the war in which we are engaged, ought to 
be prosecuted, and prosecuted to the end [tremendous applause] 
with the whole energy of the nation ; ought to be pursued to the 
last extremity. [Repeated applause.] I may be called fanatical, 
perhaps I am, but I have often said, and I say it to you here, 
as God is my Judge — I believe it would be better for this coun- 
try, terrible as the calamity would be, and incalculable as the 
misery would be — I believe it would be better for God's purposes 
upon earth — I believe it would be incomparably better for the 
human race for all that is gained by us, that we should go back 
to Plymouth Rock and Jamestown — to the infancy of our coun- 
try — than to let this atrocious and abominable attempt to sub- 
vert the Government succeed. [Tremendous cheers.] 

I cannot give you any stronger expressions than those which 
I have given, and which are the lessons deduced from the whole 
considerations, and of all that has passed up to the moment at 
which we stand. It is an appeal to the God of Battles. God is 
still with us to-day, and will in his mercy lead us to a glorious 
end; and every 'man that lives in this country is called upon to 
settle the question in its primeval shape, and settle it forever. 
[Cheers.] 

Let there be no more Secession — let there be no more rebel- 
lion — let there be no more war. As long as history shall perpet- 
uate the deeds of the past year and the deeds of the coming year, 
Avhich at some future she will record, and let us thankfully take 
whatever^God gives us. 

In the second place, it seems to me the lessons which are taught 
to you in the present state of the country, and one which we have 
a right to look for in the future is, that we should labor and go 
back to the first idea ; that we should labor and look before us all 
the time to the restoration and the preservation of the Union, and 
the perpetuation of the social and political system of the country 
and the sublime career which is before us — whatever collateral 
object there is — Avhatever other purposes may exist. It seems 
sometimes impossible in this world that those who start a great 
work can see the result. It is impossible to introduce a line of 
policy to go by, and no human wisdom is able to foresee how 
many side issues may be brought to bear. We cannot know, we 
cannot tell, and I have nothing to say in regard to that. If there 



SPEECH OF DR. BRECKINRIDGE. 13 

are collateral influences, and some there are that eminently need 
to be watched and guarded — if there are others that eminently 
need to be promoted — if there are great lessons to be drawn in 
the issue, sufficient unto tlie day will be found the wisdom as well 
as the evil thereof. But the idea which I wish to inculcate is, 
that there is not any collateral issue that may be avoided and may 
be suppressed in the main issue before us. The object of the 
direction is, our country as we had it, and our institutions as they 
were. 

The whole country, the Avhole continent and our whole immense 
domain, we should not give up so much of it as would make a 
grave, if in doing so we had to yield a tittle. 

It is, on the whole, as it was; we do not want any other svstem. 
We will not run the risk of a new system and lose the great ob- 
ject. Now, as it appears to me — and I say it with gi'eat respect — 
there have been great mistakes committed, and are being com- 
mitted, and with great peril in the prospect, upon both of the sub- 
jects. There was an immense mistake committed every day, 
founded upon the idea that it was possible to conciliate those who 
have banded themselves in military array, and have armed them- 
selves against the country. This idea is utterly absurd — they 
have been beyond all desire of conciliation ; and now and any other 
time before, since this treason has matured, and since this war 
broke out, the Union could not have been restored as it was if 
they had had the determination of this point. If you had given 
them a carte blanche and said to them — "do it upon whatever 
terms you please." It would have been incompatible with their 
system. You will find this perpetual committing of errors which 
carries you farther and farther from the desired end. It is an 
error to suppose that to treat an enemy at all, is through mercy, 
if that enemy is one that by every conceivable means has shut 
his heart against you, and is determined to ruin you. 

The danger becomes greater, greater, and greater. I know what 
I am referring to — I know I am speaking of things that have 
transpired thirty years ago. I know that these men who seek to 
subvert the Constitution are not capable of being conciliated, and 
the only way to treat them is to crush them, and to crush them is 
the only thing to be done. [Cheers.] 

There is another idea connected with this matter, and that is, 
to connect the great mass of quiet and peaceable citizens, who, 
so to speak, were called upon to take up arms against us without 
taking any particular part in the circumstances in which they 
were involved in fighting against us — that is, confounding the loyal 
portion of the people, who were ready to risk all for the good of 
the country, in the same category with the people who never can 
be conciliated, and will be always ready to rise again whenever 



14 SPEECH OF DR. BRECKINRIDGE.' 

tliey have a favorable opportunity. We are not in the habit of 
makin«' these distinctions. We are in the habit of thinking hard, 
very hard of the loyal portion in Tennessee or South Carolina, 
that they permitted this insurrection. They were oppressed at 
home, and compelled to take up arms against the Government. 
You will allow me to make a local and personal reference, and to 
say that if it had not been by mere accident — if it had not been 
the blessing of God and the heroism of some persons, the very 
same thing would have happened in Kentucky, and I will go fur- 
ther and say in extenuation of the conduct of many who were 
really loyal citizens further south. I will say further, that it was 
the proximity of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, the fidelity of the 
people of the latter States upon which these men depended — of 
your people and the people of the other two States, that saved 
Kentucky. [Great cheers.] 

The question was flatly asked by General Boyle, of the army, 
then a private citizen of Kentucky: "will you have 12,000 men 
ready the moment we ask for them?" It was flatly asked of the 
Governors of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, and the reply was : they 
would sustain them ; and I suppose I may add, that Mr. Lincoln 
was telegraphed to, asking whether he would assist them, and he 
said, "with his whole power." [Cheers.] Mr. Boyle telegraphed 
to Gov. Dennison for 10,000 men at call. He replied "|you can 
have them." He also asked for 10,000 from Indiana and Illinois, 
and received the same reply, [Cheers.] And this was the sal- 
vation of Kentucky. 

What could we have done alone ? If we had been hundreds 
of miles from the free States, we could not have sustained our- 
selves aerainst the wave of secession. All available means to 
carry on a war successfully, were taken by the disloyal citizens 
by violence. 

The result of the Presidential election shows to every man of 
common sense, that the possibility of carrying the States out of 
the Union by voting was absurd, and it could be done only by 
fraud and deceit. 

There are always people in every country, who attempt to rev- 
olutionize by force or by an appeal to the good sense of the peo- 
ple. I have always said, and still say, if that movement could 
have been a national movement throughout the fifteen slave States, 
if the people would have separated from this Union, there would 
have been no power to prevent it ; and the desperation with which 
a part of the South has fought for the last few months, shows 
what the whole would have done if it had been a truly national 
movement. 

They were bought into the Confederacy Avith money, and it was 
from the beginning a pre-concerted movement, accomplished by 



SPEECH OF DR. BRECKINRIDGE. 17 

violence and fraud. That is the nature of the case to the present 
time. It was a movement that was known to me and to every 
man of the slightest common sense. It was a failure to carry 
States out by fair means, and to be consummated only by vio- 
lence and deceit. The moment they got power anywhere they 
passed certain acts, which were treason, and should be punished 
as such, with death, or with confinement or military service if 
committed in the county. What could the loyal portion of the 
people do ? Here was the band of conspirators who called them- 
selves a government, and here were these men isolated one from 
another — and hence the cry that there was unanimity for seces- 
sion. Here was an incessant wail coming up from one end of the 
Confederacy to the other — if there was any possibility of the 
General Government coming to their relief, especially from East 
Tennessee — from the beginning until now. And no free people 
have ever suffered as they have done, and yet they are not re- 
lieved. There is a wide difference between these parties. These 
loyalists risked everything they had, and they would have gladly 
taken up their arms for the better cause. 

On the other hand, you commit a great error in supposing, or 
coming to a conclusion to suppose, that there are not loyal men 
there. In the present state of the country, there are no two 
errors that should be guarded against more carefully. It is an 
exceedingly intricate question as to what is the most effectual 
way to protect us from these errors. But I shall not enter on 
this discussion at all. 

The next general remark which I have to make, as an impor- 
tant lesson drawn from what has happened, is the undoubted 
ability of the American people to do what they have undertaken 
to do — their undoubted ability to crush out this rebellion, and 
the ability to restore the nation in all its integrity, as it was 
before. What has been accomplished in the last year I shall 
not recapitulate. Whoever will look at the line of military oper- 
ations in the country now, and compare it with the helpless con- 
dition of our marine frontier and river defenses a year ago — 
whoever will look at the results of the recent campaigns in the 
Mississippi Valley — at the naval operations upon river and sea- 
coast, cannot have a particle of doubt as to the ability of the 
nation to defend itself. I never doubted, and never could see on 
what ground anybody could doubt, that twenty millions of loyal 
people in the free States, and four millions of loyal people in the 
slave States, would do anything they desired with four millions 
of disloyal people in the slave States. The whole thing seemed 
an absurdity from the beginning, to doubt our ability to do what 
we ought to do ; and it was an utter absurdity in them to doubt 
what we would and could do under the circumstances. What I 



18 SPEECH OF DR. BRECKINRIDGE. 

mean to press upon you now, as a sequel to what I have been 
savini^, is that there is a wide distinction between the two works 
whicir'l insist upon we ought to do. The one is to crush the 
rebellion ; that is, with military force that must be done from 
without ; 'it must be done by the nation, and by military force ; 
these men must be delivered, and it must be done by the army. 
The other is a widely different thing, resting upon different prin- 
ciples, and to be done in a different way : the restoration which 
is to be made of peace and public order, and the re-establish- 
ment of a free Government. The mode in which this is to be 
brou<^ht about is a widely different work in all respects from the 
work already commenced. The great experiment is now being 
tried in Tennessee; for I suppose the General Government is 
now feelino- its way there, and that the model there endeavored 
to be set up will be the model in other States, as one by one they 
are brought back. What I insist upon is that it has been done ; 
that the elements of doing it are there ; it is the work of peace, 
and not of arms ; it is simply a question of time. With you and 
me, time is everything; with nations, time is long; it has taken 
Great Britain six hundred years to quiet Ireland. If they will 
grant us a small portion of that time, I will guarantee everything 
is quiet in the South. [Applause.] It may take a generation, 
or half a generation; or it may take but six months. I saw a 
rumor in the newspapers, which may be true, but I have no author- 
ity for vouching for it, that the Governor of North Carolina has 
already recalled the troops of that State from the Confederate 
army, and refuses any more aid to the rebellion. It is that you 
may not be discouraged — that you may not stop short in the 
patriotic work, that I trouble you in speaking of this aspect of 
the subject. 

Now, there is another aspect of the times to which I must refer. 
The state of the country presents to me extraordinary revelations ; 
things are occurring that ought to challenge the consideration of 
every thoughtful mind, to one or two of which let me call your 
attention. And first, is the demonstration that has been made, so 
unlookcd for and so emphatic, of the character of the American 
people and this great crisis through which they are passing. For 
example, suppose such a rebellion as this had occurred in any 
European monarchy — in the Roman empire? We know exactly 
what took place there when, again and again, it did occur. Sup- 
pose it had occurred in the Russian Empire : we know what terrible 
results followed when such a thing happened there. Here you 
have had an organized conspiracy for years, growing up during 
an administration, that for four years seemed to have no other 
object but to prepare the nation for its interment; and a cabinet 
of ministers putting the army and navy where they could be of 



SPEECH OF DR. BRECKINRIDGE. 23 

no use to the Government. I don't like to speak evil of digni- 
taries ; and I don't know whether it was imbecility, or cowardice, 
or corruption in Buchanan to let the men in his cabinet do what 
they did; but posterity will execrate them as long as their names 
are remembered in the nation. In the midst of these things, 
here is the conduct of the American people ; here is the stain 
upon their Government, and it is a great revolution ; that our 
people can do what no other Government ever did do — that they 
can stand the shock never stood by any nation, and come out with 
a triumph more glorious than any nation ever before achieved. 

This is a glorious revolution, worthy to be associated with the 
revolution of our fathers. The most permanent nations under the 
sun have been those nearest like our own. This thought is worthy 
of pondering over. There is nothing in this country wherin one 
State differs from another as much as there is in the States of the 
German nation — nothing that has separated one from another as 
in the cantons of the Swiss nation. Some being free and some 
slave, may be thought greater, but I think not, if you ponder it 
carefully. The Germans and the French, in the different Swiss 
cantons, differ in religion and in many other respects ; yet they 
are one glorious nation. The elements of the German nation vary 
from the small, free towns up to the first monarchs of Europe ; 
yet this great nation preserves its integrity, and if they, why 
not]^we? The things which separate us from each other, have 
been found upon trial to be things not necessarily destructive to 
the nationality and perpetuity of the Government. The whole of 
the Slave States have not gone out in a body ; the majority of the 
people have been loyal ; the whole of the Border Slave States 
have been and will be, loyal. I dare say of them, if I am a 
fair specimen, that in all Ohio you will not find a more loyalman 
than I am. 

Here is the insuperable strength of a people to maintainTits 
like, under circumstances that make one portion as widely dif- 
ferent as if in another country ; and yet under circumstances 
where no other country has ever succeeded in maintaining itself. 

Look at the tremendous demonstration that has been made of 
the military strength of the country, an overwhelming proof of 
the warlike character of the people ! A nation which had given 
up arms, and was devoted to industry, and in a year brings out 
an army greater than ever was brought into the field at any time 
before — an army of five or six hundred thousand men. 

Did you have any conscription in Ohio ? They have conscrip- 
tions in France. Did you have press-gangs in Ohio ? They have 
in England. Did you whip any one to compel them to volunteer? 
They use the knout in Russia to fill the ranks. An army of five 
hundred thousand volunteers sprung to arms, and an army of five 



24 SPEECH OF DR. BRECKINRIDGE. 

hundred thousand still behind ready to do the same thing. And 
this army is doing the work it designed to do. Now I do not 
speak evil of dignitaries, but I am conscientiously of the opinion 
that, as the Duke of Wellington said about his army : " When- 
ever I get into a scrape, my soldiers help me out," so it is with 
our army. They are heroic, gallant, and plucky — and of such 
(^allant volunteers the world never before saw the like. 

Carry the idea a little further, to the demonstration of the 
boundless capacity of the country to sustain an expensive war, 
a country rich beyond computation. Here we are, in the midst 
of expenses, of, it may be, a thousand million dollars a year, and 
the public funds almost at par, the credit of the country fair, and 
the boundless capacity of this stingy and mean nation, as it is 
sometimes called — a boundless readiness to give money and men. 
If there could be a collection of the immense amount of money 
contributed to the cause of benevolence, connected with this war, 
it would be enough to carry on a war in the usual way. People 
the most elevated and refined give themselves to the most menial 
services in behalf of the sick, wounded and dying. Was anything 
like it ever heard of in the history of the nations of the world : 
Men cry, tax us ; here is our money to alleviate the sufferings of 
the sick ; and our best and loveliest women say, here are our 
services ; take them and use them. Is this not an illustration 
marvelous in itself, glorious to Christianity and our country, and 
pointing to the end to which such a people must come, if they 
be wisely and bravely directed. 

There is one more reflection which is, if possible, more striking 
than this — it is, so to speak, the providential concurrence of 
circumstances. At the very moment of the utmost peril of 
our naval outfit, and during the utmost peril to the brave cities 
of the seaboard, in the moment of the trial of the armed ship 
of the rebels, here comes the little black steamboat kind of 
thing, and it turns out a very angel from heaven, perfectly 
invulnerable, able to destroy everything before it. The idea has 
revolutionized naval warfare. It puts us ahead of the naval pow- 
ers of the world. The whole thing is changed. Do you suppose, 
if that battle had been fought a month before the British Cabinet 
demanded the release of those two prisoners who went over as 
the embassadors of the so-called Confederacy, they would have 
done it Avith so much hauteur as they did? Do you suppose, if 
tliat buttle had been fought, and we had known what that vessel 
was, that the Cabinet would have been so complacent as they were ? 
I trow not. The naval powers have been, out of all comparison, 
the great powers in the world. So it was in the great states of 
Asia. So it was in Holland. So always, it is the cheapest and 
most effectual and safest of all powers that can exist in any coun- 



SPEECH OP DR. BRECKINtRIDGE. 27 

try. And now, behold out of the bosom of this war emerges 
not only the power to do this great thing — a thing never done 
before — but there emerges this great demonstration of our capa- 
city to do and to bear in the Avay of giving our money and ser- 
vices. But out of the same bosom and at the same time emerges 
this other idea that puts us equal with the chief naval powers of 
the world. All we have to do is to start with that little ship, 
and keep breast to breast, and side to side with the naval powers. 
From the received notion, they wanted us to be domineered over 
by all powers who chose to, we became a power, standing in the 
center of the earth, ready to dictate terms to the world. They 
will not dare to use a word of insult, when we have a hundred 
millions of such people extending from one side of the continent 
to the other. Imagine New England to be on the Pacific coast, 
I would like to know what China or Japan could do to us. No 
such idea was ever before set before any nation. All is light, 
glorious light, pointing to the sublimest destiny ever offered to 
any people. 

All that is left is for each to ask himself, what is our part, and 
our duty? What shall each do in his place? Are we to stand 
by in cold neutrality, or fly for fear of the fire and sword, and 
so escape our duty that they may work their ruin ? Are we to 
fold our arms, and behold with indifference the ruin of our coun- 
try, if that should be the will of God, or triumph, if that should 
be His will? But, most of all, is there any one Avho hears my 
voice, who thinks it is right for himself to combine with traitors, 
either in feeling or act, or strike hands with those who revolt 
against our Government, and would destroy their country and 
help consummate the ruin they desire to bring upon us ? " 0, 
man! are these the things we allow ourselves to suppose to be 
possible of doing in the City of God ? Are we not called upon, 
every man in his place, to take his life in his own hands, and 
to count all things but dross, that he may do in the great work 
set before us his part, as he would have his good name descend 
to his children, and when he ascends to the right hand of Majesty 
on high, to find his name there recorded. If the work is done 
without us, or by us, it may be all the same to the country and to 
God ; but oh ! how difi"erent to us, if we fail to do our duty. That 
great Jew who said to the child he had loved, " If thou at such a 
time as this hold thy peace, know that God will bring deliverance 
from another quarter, but you and your father's [house shall be 
cut ofi-." 

Who knows but that it is just such a time as this, that you and 
I have been called to this kingdom ; and God in His grace and 
providence, demands of us that we should acquit ourselves like 
men in the day of our adversity ? 



DEBATE 

ON 

THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY: 

IN THE 

General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, (O.S.,) 

At Columbus, Ohio, Thursday, 3Iay 22, 1862. 



Reported for the Cincinnati Daily Gazette. 

"The Hall of the House of Representatives was yestei'day afternoon, at an 
early hour, crowded, as closely as chairs and benches could stand, in the 
aisles, and in the galleries, with as intelligent an audience as ever assembled, 
many of whom were ladies. The order of the day had been published, and 
the desire evidently to hear that fearless champion of loyalty and Unionism 
in Kentucky, and eminent theologian, Dr. R. J. Breckinridge. His deliver- 
ance on the duty of the Church in the present state of the country, herein- 
below published, has been read all over the nation by this time, and its dis- 
cussion by the master minds in this Assembly has been looked forward to as 
an occasion of great interest, and it has attracted listeners from all parts of 
the State." 

Dr. Breckinridge's Resolutions. 

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United 
States of America, in session at Columbus, in the State of Ohio, con- 
sidering the unhappy condition of the country — in the midst of a 
bloody civil war — and of the Church, agitated everywhere, divided 
m sentiment in many places, and openly assailed by schism in a large 
section of it; considering also the duty which this chief tribunal, met 
in the name and by the authority of the glorified Savior of sinners, 
who is also the Sovereign Ruler of all things, owes to him our Head 
and Lord, and to his flock committed to our charge, and to the people 
whom we are commissioned to evangelize, and to the civil authorities 
who exist by his appointment; do hereby in this deliverance, give ut- 
terance to our solemn convictions and our deliberate judgment, touch- 
ing the matters herein set forth, that they may serve for the guidance 
of all, over whom the Lord Christ has given us any office of instruc- 
tion, or any power of government. 

I. Peace is amongst the very highest temporal blessings of the 
Church, as well as of all mankind; and public order is one of the 
first necessities of the spiritual as well as the civil commonwealth. 
Peace has been wickedly superseded by war, in its worst form, through- 
out the whole land; and public order has been wickedly superseded 
by rebellion, anarchy and violence, in the whole Southern portion of 
the Union. All this has been brought to pass, in a disloyal and 



REMARKS OP DR. BRECKINRIDGE. 33 

traitorous attempt to overthrow the National Government by military 
force, and to divide the nation contrary to the wishes of the immense 
majority of the people of the nation, and without satisfactory evi- 
dence that the majority of the people in whom the local sovereignty 
resided, even in the States which revolted, ever authorized any such 
proceeding, or ever approved the fraud and violence, by which this 
horrible treason has achieved whatever success it has had. This 
whole treason, rebellion, anarchy, fraud and violence, is utterly con- 
trary to the dictates of natural religion and morality, and is plainly 
comdemned by the revealed will of God. It is the clear and solemn 
duty of the National Government to preserve, at whatever cost, the 
nationalUnion and Constitution, to maintain the laws in their supre- 
macy, to crush force by force, and to restore the reign of public or- 
der and peace to the entire nation, by whatever lawful means that are 
necessary thereunto. And it is the boundcn duty of the people who 
compose this great nation, each one in his several place and degree, 
to uphold the Federal Government, and every State Government, and 
all persons in authority, whether civil or military, in all their lawful 
and proper acts, unto the ends herein before set forth. 

II. The Church of Christ has no authority from him to make re- 
bellion, or to counsel treason, or to favor anarchy in any case what- 
ever. On the contrary, every follower of Christ has the personal 
liberty bestowed on him by Christ, to submit, for the sake of Christ, 
according to his own conscientious sense of duty to whatever govern- 
ment, however bad under which his lot may be cast. But while pa- 
tient suffering for Christ's sake can never be sinful, treason, rebellion 
and anarchy may be sinful — most generally, perhaps, are sinful, and 
probably are always and necessarily sinful in all free countries, where 
the power to change the Government by voting, in the place of force, 
exists as a common right, constitutionally secured to the people who 
are sovereign. If in any case treason, rebellion and anarchy can pos- 
sibly be sinful, they are so in the case now desolating large portions 
of this nation, and laying waste great numbers of Christian congre- 
gations, and fatally obstructing every good word and work in those 
regions. 

To the Christian people scattered throughout those unfortunate re- 
gions, who have been left of God to have any hand in bringing on 
these terrible calamities, we earnestly address words of exhortation 
and rebuke, as unto brethren who have sinned exceed-ingly, and 
whom God calls to repentance by fearful judgment. To those in like 
circumstances, who are not chargeable with the sins which have 
brought such calamities upon the land, but who have chosen, in the 
exercise of their Christian liberty, to stand in their lot and suffer, 
we address words of affectionate sympathy, praying God to bring 
•them off conquerors. To those in like circumstances, who have taken 
their lives in their hands and risked all for their country, and for 
conscience' sake, we say we love such with all our heart, and bless 
God such witnesses were found in the time of thick darkness. We 
fear, and we record it with great grief, that the church of God and 
the Christian people, to a great extent, and throughout all the re- 



34 DEBATE IN THE PRESBYTERIAN GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 

volted States, have done many things that ought not to have been 
done, in this time of trial, rebuke, and blasphemy; but concerning the 
wide spread schism which is reported to have occurred in many 
Southern Synods, this Assembly will take no action at this time. It 
declares, however, its fixed purpose, under all possible circumstances, 
to labor for the extension and permanent maintenance of the Church 
under its care in every part of the United States. Schism, so far as 
it may exist, we hope to see healed. If that can not be, it will be 
disregarded. 

III. We record our gratitude to God for the prevailing unity of 
sentiment, and general internal peace, which has characterized the 
Church in the States that have not revolted, embracing a great major- 
ity of the ministers, congregations and people under our care. Ifc 
may still be called, with emphasis, a loyal, orthodox and pious church, 
and all its acts and works indicate its right to a title so noble. Let 
it strive for Divine grace to maintain that good report. In some re- 
spects the interests of the Church of God are very different from those 
of civil institutions. Whatever may befall this, or any other nation, 
the Church of Christ must abide on earth triumphant even over the 
gates of hell. It is, therefore, of supreme importance that the Church 
should guard itself from internal alienations and divisions, founded 
upon questions and interests that are external as to her, and which 
ought not by their necessary working cause her fate to depend on the 
fate of things less important and less enduring than herself. Dis- 
turbers of the church ought not to be allowed — especially disturbers 
of the church in States that never revolted, or that have been cleared 
of armed rebels — disturbers who, under many false pretexts, may 
promote discontent, disloyalty, and general alienation — tending to 
the unsettling of ministers, to local schisms, and to manifold trouble. 
Let a spirit of quietness, of mutual forbearance, and of ready obedi- 
ence to authority, both civil and ecclesiastical, illustrate the loyalty, 
the orthodoxy, and the piety of the church. It is more especially 
to ministers of the Grospel — and among them particularly, to any 
whose first impressions had been on any account favorable to the ter- 
rible military revolution which has been attempted, and which Grod's 
Providence has hitherto so signally rebuked — that these decisive con- 
siderations ought to be addressed. And in the name and by the au- 
thority of the Lord Jesus, we earnestly exhort all who love God and 
fear his wrath, to turn a deaf ear to all counsels and suggestions 
that tend toward a reaction favorable to disloyalty, schism or dis- 
turbance, either in the churoh or in the country. There is hardly 
anything more inexcusable connected with the frightful conspiracy 
against which we testify than the conduct of those office-bearers and 
members of the church, who, although citizens of loyal States, and 
subject to the control of loyal Presbyteries and Synods, have be Hi 
faithless to all authority, human and divine, to which they owed 
subjection. Nor should any to whom this deliverance may come fail 
to bear in mind, that it is not only their outward conduct concerning 
which they ought to take heed, but it is also, and especially, the'ri 
heart, their temper, and their motives, in the sight of God, and to- 



REMARKS OF DR. BRECKINRIDGE. 35 

ward the free and beneficent civil Goverment -which he has blessed 
us withal, and toward the spiritual commonwealth to which they are 
subject in the Lord. In all these respects we must all give account 
to God in the Great Day. And it is in view of our own dread re- 
sponsibility to the Judge of quick and dead, that we now make this 
deliverance. 

JUDGE gamble's remarks. 

After the reading of the paper by the Clerk, Judge Gamble of Missouri, 
brother of the Governor, arose and said : 

The subject introduced for our consideration, is, to my mind, the most in- 
teresting one that has occupied the attention of this Assembly. To the word- 
ing of the paper, and every sentiment in it, I give full accordance; but, inas- 
much as the condition of the Church would make such a deliverance, at this 
ime, in my judgment, altogether injurious, (and I can see no good that can 
possibly arise from it,) 1 must oppose its adoption. I have prepared a reso- 
lution, for the purpose of giving some direction to debate on this subject. 1 
have always been a peacemakerin the Church, as far as I was able, when 
no principle is concerned. I have always endeavored to preserve harmony, 
and do nothing that could bring injury to the Church. 1 come from Mis- 
souri, and from a position that enables me to speak understandingly of the 
effect such a paper would have on the churches of that State. Everything 
there now has a tendency to peace. You may ascribe it to the success of the 
Federal arms, or to the intiuence of a sense of returning duty ; but there is 
now a disposition in that State to recognize the power of the Federal Govern- 
ment, and submit to it peaceably. Therefore, 1 consider it very unfortunate 
that a second deliverance of this kind, in regard to the loyalty and patriotism 
of this branch of the Church, should be conceived at all necessary. I think 
it not only useless, but that it will lead to evil. I think that if the paper is 
treated with all the respect that is due its author, but not adopted, good may 
arise to the Church from it. 

As to the political sentiments of the mover of the deliverance, I would 
say, that I coincide altogether with his views, and it is from no favor to op- 
posite views that I now raise my voice in opposition to this paper. I believe 
that to treat those who differ from you kindly is the best way to attain the 
object the mover has in view in offering his paper — that is, the peace and 
quiet of the Church. I know there are many in the State of Missouri and 
elsewhere who do not coincide with me in these views; they are deluded, 
strangely deluded, but I would not cut off their church connection, and exas- 
perate them, to make greater disturbance in the Church. I do not pretend 
to enter into a discussion of the merits of the deliverance ; the only question 
now is as to the expediency of the thing. Let no discussion arise out of Dr. 
Spring's resolutions as to the power of the Church in this matter. Let the 
discussion be confined to the question whether it is for the best interests of 
tlie Church that this paper should be adopted, or, by giving it a respectful 
consideration and dismissal, you will not better obtain the object of the 
mover. I therefore offer the following: 

Resolved, That in view of the past deliverance on the subject involved in 
the paper just read, it is deemed by this General Assembly, with the highest 
respect for the venerable minister from whom the paper comes, inexpedient 
to take any further action on the subject at present 

Some remarks were here made on a point of order, by Dr. Breckinridge, 
the Moderator, and others, as to the relation this resolution would bear to the 
paper in taking a vote. The Moderator explained that the adoption of the 
paper had been moved and seconded when first introduced, and as their rules 



36 DEBATE IN THE PRESBYTERIAN GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 

know of no such thing aa a substitute, the discussion might go on, and the 
vote be taken on Judge Gamble's resolution as an amendment. 

DR. m' Donald's remakes. 

Dr. ^['Donald of New Jersey, seconding the resolution approved of the 
terms and excellent spirit of the remarks of the 'gentleman moving it. He 
looked upon it as a happy augury as to the spirit and tone of the debate, if 
debate must follow. It appeiired to him inexpedient to adopt the paper ; 
there seemed to be no occasion for this Church to declare its loyalty and 
patriotism again ; we would expose ourselves to suspicion by standing in the 
streets and proclaiming our excellence in this or any other respect. The 
honest man does not need to proclaim his honesty; and our Savior warned 
us against praying at the street corners. He was impressed with the re- 
mark of the mover of the resolution, when he asked, what good will the adop- 
tion of the paper do ? And if it will do no good, it will be wise to avoid the 
risk of doing harm. 

REMARKS OF DR. BRECKINRIDGE. 

1 do not propose to enter a discussion of the merits of the proposition con" 
tained in the paper which 1 had the honor to submit, for I have not the 
strength, even if it were necessary. But I am ready, and hope to have an 
opportunity, in answer to whatever may be alleged against the divine truth 
of the principles stated, and the divine obligation of the political duties in- 
culcated, to say as much as I may judge the patience of this house will bear, 
at an appropriate time. The statement which I wish to make now covers 
another aspect of the case altogether, namely, the policy of adopting the de- 
liverance proposed. 

As to the position of the Border Slave States to this question, I will re- 
mark: One of the brethren who has been on the floor is from Missouri, an- 
other from Kentucky, and another who wanted the floor is from Maryland. 
It is not improper for me to say here that I have had extended conferences 
with brethren from these States, in which they urged me with great em- 
phasis to withdraw this paper. Tt is not at all unbecoming in me to acknowl- 
edge that 1 have with the greatest reluctance and grief separated myself 
from my brethren in those States, who are situated much as 1 am ; and par- 
ticularly so as it regards the State of Kentucky, where so many brethren, 
many of whom are here and are loyal, and situated precisely as I am ; J have 
felt great reluctance in being wholly unable to comply with their wishes. 
Their requests were mainly directed to the single point that I would with- 
draw the paper, and say to the house emphatically, what is said in the reso- 
luton before us. After the best consideration I have been able to give the 
subject, 1 have only to say that 1 find myself totally unable to do so, either 
with proper respect to my personal character, my convictions, or to the duty 
I owe to God and my generation. 

If I were left alone, the only minister of the Gospel in the whole of the 
border slave States, considering these principles true, and the utterance 
timely, I think I would be supported by what national virtue I have, and by 
the grace God has given me, to go forward and, if needs be, be hanged for 
having offered this paper. I make this statement with no spirit of boasting, 
but to show the imnosaibility of my doing any such thing. I may, therefore, 
further say, that 1 do to a certain extent tell these good brothers that nothing 
would please me more, as a man and friend, than' to gratify them if I could. 
I did go so far as to say, that if I could see it to be my duty, I would remain 
perfectly silent under the discussion, and let the Assembly fight it out; and 
if the ordinary course had been pursued, I probably should not have opened 
my mouth. J, however, on further reflection, became satisfied that it would 
be going too far, and 1 to-day notified them that they must not rely on me 



REMARKS OF DR. BRECKINRIDGE. 39 

doino;, or forbearing to do, any thing except to do what I thought to be my 
duty when the matter came before the Assembly. 

You see now the mode in which it is attempted to evade all discussion of 
the subject. It is obliquely to cast out everything but the naked question 
of the adequacy of what has been done before. All the principles and alle- 
gations of duty are to be thrown totally out of consideration, and the action 
aarried and justified on the two propositions: first, that I am a respectable 
man; and second, that the Assembly has done enough. This is not right; 
it is not the way to meet questions of that sort. I, therefore, wish to pre- 
sent briefly, with reference to the aspect of the subject thus set forth, th« 
•Uowing considerations : 

First, 1 believe I am the oldest man here from the Border Slave States, 
with the exception of my excellent friend from whom the resolution came. 
I believe I have been longer in the ministry than any man from those States. 
I believe I know the hearts of the people of those States as well as they know 
them ; and I unhesitatingly assert that they are totally deceived as to what 
would be the efi"ect of the paper on their minds. It may be that they think 
it impertinent in me to say that they don't think correctly in regard to mat- 
ters of which they think they know more than I do. When Mr. Gamble says 
he knows the adoption of the paper would destroy harmony in the Church 
of Missouri, where he lives, it is perhaps presumption in me to say he is mis- 
taken. But there are general facts, and there are special personal indica- 
tions made to me by those who are entitled to know, and who are as fully at 
respectable as he, that point exactly in the opposite direction. We have 
three reasonably strong churches in St. Louis, and in point of fact'all thero 
are Union churches, but not one of the ministers is a loyal man; and I say 
this in the presence of one of the three that I most respect and love. [Sen- 
sation] In my sense of loyalty, there is not one of them loyal. Doctors 
will differ in the diagnosis of a case; here are the symptoms, and my diag- 
nosis is that my paper will strengthen the hands of every loyal, orthodox and 
pious Presbyterian there, and weaken the hands of those who are loyal. 

They are deceived about the State of Kentucky. You will be told that 
the sentiments of the people are against the adoption of this deliverance; but 
there are five Presbyterian representatives here — two, and perhaps threCj will 
Yote for the paper. So that, if Mr. Gamble's resolution is necessary for St. 
Louis, ours is good for Kentucky. Here are my brethren from Baltimore, 
whom I dearly lovej; I lived there thirteen years, which is longer than any 
body who is here has been there, except it be Bro. Backus. Any thing on 
earth that I could do compatible with my duty to God and my country 1 
would do to gratify that brother; but my opinion is that he is profoundly 
mistaken. I don't like to go into particulars about Baltimore; but I under- 
atand the state of the city, and will give it if the occasion comes when it shall 
be proper to do so. In my judgement all are mistaken as to the effect the 
paper would produce in these Border Slave States. 

The second suggestion is, that in no case is the paper of that description, 
that it can possibly produce anything like the feeling the brethren allege. 
What is the paper ? It is an allegation, in the first place, that peace and 
public order are of inestimable value ; that they are destroyed ; that they 
ought to be restored ; that rebellion is treason, and that Government is re- 
sponsible for its suppression ; and that every man in the country is bound 
by his loyalty to the country and to God to sustain the Government, by re- 
storing peace and public order. It is inconceivable by the mind of man, that, 
to go into an agitated country and make such propositions that they can by 
possibility produce the slightest agitation, unless it be upon the minds of suck 
men as are in favor of destroying the peace and public order of the country, 
or who are, on the other hand, sympathizers with those who have done it, or 
are doing it I have no doubt you would exasperate every disloyal man in 



40 DBBATE IN THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 

the Church, and every heretic out of it; and all together they would be 81 
considerable number. 

Here in the North (and the worst trea=!on has been talked to me in the 
Northern States) you will no doubt dfsplease a multitude of people ; but 
you can not define anything on earth without displeasing those who differ 
?rom you in respect to the thing you define. It is not true that this number 
of gentlemen, pious, learned men — that this number of private persons — 
giving a distinct utterance of principles, would strengthen the hands of those 
to whom they spoke, and support them in the maintenance of their position 
founded on such principles. Now, I ask you, are not the loyal suffering 
people throughout these border States as much entitled to your sympathy and 
support, as these disloyal rebels are entitled, that you should not wound their 
feelings by anything you might say? Am 1 not as much, entitled to your 
support, by your approbation of the principles I pursue, as those who have 
rebelled are entitled that you forbear reproving them ? On the other hand, 
do you not owe a duty to the whole Church, to truth, to God, to the human 
race, and to the times in which you are called into the kingdom ? Suppose 
it be that in this deliverance you may do damage to a certain quarter — that 
it may do harm, or prevent good in some other quarter, but in the meantime 
that elsewhere boundless good is done — ought you to hesitate for a moment? 
It is true that we can do no good without doing some harm. You can not 
take a good man from a small field of labor and put him in a large field, with- 
out injuring to some extent the welfare of those from whom Jyou have re- 
moved him. But, does any man imagine this should not be done ? We may 
in a day or two remove a good minister from some congregation, and place 
him in a Professor's chair. Does any body imagine it should not be done, if 
greater good should be done by the move in his new field of labor? Do you 
not know that it is the prerogative of God to bring good out of evil ? And it 
is the prerogative of the Church to follow in some respects this same course. 

I have said, that if these two hundred and fifty men would, as private per- 
sons, give an utterance of this kind, it would fall with unspeakable weight in 
encouraging that which they commended, and in discouraging that which 
they condemned. But when they come to do it in the authority of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, and appeal to the Holy Ghost to give force unto it, how unspeak- 
ably irresistible must such a deliverance become ? What right have you to 
deliver, or forbear to deliver, in this body, except as you do it in the name 
of the King of kings and Lord of lords ? Now, you sit here in the dread 
name of the Lord, and here is your Church torn by schism, and your country 
deluged by war, and God shaking the nation to its foundations ; and here 
you are, two hundred and fifty ministers and elders, sitting in that name, see- 
ing the Church bleeding at every pore — you, the servants of Jehovah, admin- 
istering judgment in the name of Him to whom is delegated all power ; see 
your country bathed in blood — and the proposition to you is, to rebuke those 
who rage, harass, and ruin all our peace, but you can not open your mouths I 
The shock of the country, and all its attendant woe, can not break the 
dumbest of dumb dogs. Oh ! my brethren, is this acting in the name of 
Christ ? No, no, no, you can't plead this excuse. I tell you in the name of 
Jesus Christ, t<) look at your country as it is, and consider that this is your 
first meeting since the war has opened out fully, and since the schism in the 
church has been developed; 1 tell you that you can't go back and face your 
congregations as Ministers of Jesus Christ, without making some deliverance 
on these tremendous realities. Your Church is rent, your country is in the 
midst of civil war, and nothing but the favor of the Lord God of Hosts is to 
bring you triumphantly through the scenes in which you are involved. Make 
a deliverance of His truth, make proclamation of His law, and let us go forth 
in the name of God's Church through this highest tribunal, and rebuke as 
by authority put into your hands by God, who will stand before it ? 1 tell 



REMARKS OP DR. BRECKINRIDGE. 41 

you, nobody — nobody but madmen, nobody but traitors, nobody but rebels, 
nobody but those who have cast away all hope of ever being reconciled to the 
country or the Church. 

Suppose 1 stand up in my pulpit some Sabbath day, and read that some 
man has been excommunicated by four or five elders. It sticks to the man 
to the day of his death, unless he can have it removed by an edict secured 
by repentance. But suppose these elders and I meet at the street corners 
and express the private opinion that the man is guilty of the same charge ; 
it is regarded as only the private opinion of a few individuals. In the other 
case the verdict carries with it authority and power. 1 desire you to bear 
along with you in this utterance that mighty power of God, and it will quiet 
all that can be quited ; it will be a savor of death unto death, and to each 
of you will be a sweet savior to God, and of life unto life. 

But, my brethren, allow me one word more. Did any body ever imagine 
a schism could maintain itself on the naked proposition of disloyalty to the 
country? The Christian doctrine against this schism is, that you have de- 
nounced disloyalty and commended loyalty. Dues an}- one question that you 
have commanded quiet and condemned disturbance? Can any Church in 
any country maintain itself as schismatic on the basis of treason to that coun- 
try ? It can not be done, and whoever undertakes it will find the}' are fol- 
lowed by only a few deluded members, and will speedily recover their senses 
and return o duty. 

The paper before us contains a simple and clear statement of the condition 
of the country and the Church. First, it states the duty wo owe to the coun- 
try; second, the duty of the country to the Church; third, the condition of 
the Church in the seceded States; and to each there is a deliverance suited 
to it; and in the third section you find a deliveranco to the Church outside 
of the seceded States. The paper is begun by the general declaration that 
it is prepared out of a sense of duty, in the name of the Lord. 

I bog to say to you, that having written this deliverance, I don't want any 
of you to be led a single step beyond what your conscientious convictions 
lead you to do in acting upon it; but I don't want you to be deceived, and 
carried away by the delusive notion of the bad effect that may be produced 
by it. It was to this point alone that I cared about making these remarks. 
I beg the Lord that I may not be obliged to say anything further on this sub- 
ject' 

Eeportod for The Presbyterian, Philadelphia. 

Dr. McPheeters, of St. Louis, goS the floor, and denied, vr'Ah great dis 
tinctness and emphasis, the right of any ecclesiastical body to question and 
challenge his political sentiments on any subject. He had tried to keep 
entirely clear of the discussion of all political subjects. He was from Mis- 
souri, lie had been asked his political sentiments. He said he replied by 
telling the following anecdote : — "A little girl was inquired. at if she were a 
Whig or a Democrat. She said, 'I am au Old-School Presbyterian.' " So 
Dr. McPheeters was an Old- School Presbyterian, and no politician. He was 
amazed that Dr. Breckinridge had charged him as disloyal — (Dr Breckin- 
ridge interrupted him by saying that he said he was disloyal in his sense of 
disloyalty.) Dr. McPheeters replied that he had better authority than even 
Dr. Breckinridge of what constituted loyalty. He read from an acknowl- 
edged author a definition of loyalty, and closed by affirming that no one 
eould love this Government better than he. 

Rev. Mr. McKee, of Louisville, Ky., had never been called to speak under 
such circumstances. He was sorry to have to oppose the views of the ven- 
erable man who introduced this paper,*who' had been his theological and 
spiritual father. He was sure that Dr. Breckinridge was sadly mistaken as 
to his views on the effect of this paper on the Synod of Kentucky. It will 
be ruinous. I know I am not mistaken. And it is to save the Church that 



42 DEBATE IN THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 

T arise, with my youth against me, to oppose that great and venerable man. 
/ am loyal. Had my health permitted, I would this day have been in the 
army of my country, or in my grave ! I am bold to say that the President 
of the United States loves not this Government more than I do. And I must 
say, if you can do any thing by way of preserving this Government by pass- 
ing the paper introduced by Dr. Breckinridge, then let it pass, if the heavens 
should fall. But it can do no good to the loyal, and it will only alienate 
more and more those who are disaffected. How can we expect them to re- 
turn by severe deliverances against them from year to year? He referred 
to the slips on the desks of members, on which was printed the action of the 
Synod of Kentucky on the Spring resolutions of the last Assembly. This 
action flatly contradicted Dr. Breckinridge's statements as to the views of 
Presbyterians in Kentucky. The Government of the Southern Confederacy 
is a Government; not indeed a lawful one, but it is a Government, and under 
it thousands of Presbyterians live, and they are totally unable to resist it, if 
they would. Now, the action of the Synod of Kentucky, unanimously ex- 
pressed, was, that it was unwise in the last Assembly to enjoin on persons 
80 situated obedience to a Government when it would have been death for 
them to have obeyed. Who suspects the Presbyterians of want of patriot- 
ism ? I mean those in the North. No one who is acquainted with their 
antecedents. Was last year's action not enough? Must we have a new 
deliverance every year? Must we pass this year a paper drawn up with 
great minuteness, so as still more and more to distract us in Kentucky ? It is 
easy for you in these Northern States to vote on and pass these deliverances, 
but to us it is distress, division, ruin, death. O! do regard our circum- 
stances ! Bind not such burdens for us, who love our country and our God, 
as we are not able to bear! If you say nothing, our people will be peaceful 
and comparatively happy ; but if you agitate this matter, our churches will 
oppose the principle involved in these annual political deliverances. They 
oppose conscientiously this thing— of making the pulpit a political rostrum. 
Let it be used to publish the love and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ from. 

He intended to remfiin loyal to his country, loyal to the Church, and loyal 
to his God. What will you gain? You will lose the Synods of Missouri, 
and Kentucky, and others, by passing this paper. Beware, I beseech you, 
what you do. You gain nothing — we lose much by the passage of this 
document. The speech of Mr. McKee was truly eloquent, earnest, and pat- 
riotic. He produced a good impression. 

Rev. Nathaniel Williams, of Ohio, said some objected to the day of 
prayer, as it was a purely political matter. If ihey were right, then this 
paper is wrong. Dr. Breckinridge drew up that paper of the Synod of Ken- 
tucky, and if he was right then, he is wrong now; and if wrong then, he is 
right now. The Doctor himself has been sinning grievously, and it seems he is 
now on the stool of repentance. (Dr. Breckinridge frequently interrupted the 
fipeaker, and seemed anxious to explain away the action of the Synod.) 
There is noneed'^of this paper to express our loyalty. No member here but 
is ready to bow down to the feet of the Government. "All things are lawful, 
but all things are not expedients He said as he came to the Assembly he 
saw a little dog run out and bark furiously at the train as it dashed past, 
and he just thought the conductor would have been a great fool to have 
stopped the train to stone the dog. So it is a silly thing for this great As- 
sembly to be always hurling "deliverances" at such as question its loyalty, 
or complain of its ecclesiastical independence. The only reason he could 
see why this paper should pass, was to give to the world the news of Dr. 
Breckinridge's repentance; for repented he has. At least he has changed 
— radically changed — and that, too, within a few months. It is right, I 
know, "for him that stole to steal no more." Th» inexpediency of this 
» e duly considered by all. This is a perplexing subject. — 



REMARKS OP DR. BRECKINRIDGE, 43 

Great minds are divided on it. Even Dr. Breckinridge ifl sometimes on one 
side, sometimes on the other. Are real principles fco mutable ? Why this 
blowing hot and cold with the same breath ? 

[The discussion was continued by Rev. Aaron P. Formal, of Hannibal, 
Mo., and Dr. George Junkin. of Philadelphia, Dr. McPheeters, of St. Louis, 
Dr. Backus, of Baltimore, and Dr. Scott, of Washington CollegCj Pa.; after 
which, Dr. Breckinridge again addressed the Assembly.] 

DR. Breckinridge's review of the argument. 

Reported for the Oincionati Daily Gazette. 

The Dr. began his remarks by referring to some personal matters. In the 
first place, every speech I have heard, said he, in opposition to this pitper, 
even to the last, made by Dr. Backus, involves either a direct or an under- 
stood attack on me individually; but in regard to this, I shall merely remind 
the house that this is the temper of faction always, and especially the tem- 
per of that faction which is resisting the great movement of the Church. 
It is the plea why you should make another concession, and they will never 
be satisfied unless you let them have their own way to the last extent. The 
brethren generally are sorry to see it introduced, and they make propositions 
by way of compromise. Now I am perfectly willing to take all the blame 
before men for this thing, provided that when we go up there (pointing 
above) none of them will attempt to take any of the glory that may belong 
to those who are faithful to truth and duty. 

Another thing to which I wish to call your attention is, that every speech 
made on that side of the question has been in the sense and spirit of breth- 
ren speaking from out of hearts of disloyalty more or less complete ; but if 
Brother McPheeters is hurt, I will take it all back. It is thought perfectly 
right to speak of the Church disgracefully, but if you say a word about the 
individual it is a very serious matter. "Molly," said a woman in the West 
Indies, "go get me a mug of water, a little brandy, a lemon, and some sugar." 
" Shan't 1 put some nutmeg with them?" "Oh, ye baste, do you think I 
would drink a punch ?" This is the posture of things here; I am to be hung 
because I had a little nutmeg in. 

A good brother has said that I am responsible for having trained a couple 
of devoted rebels. One is my old friend lloUins, who commanded the Ham ; 
the other, my friend Capt. Speers, I suppose. They are both honorable gen- 
tlemen, and I believe Hollins of the Ram is a Christian; but they are de- 
ceived in their politics. 

All thit has been said has been on assumptions, every one of which, in my 
judgment, are incorrect. First, that there is a particular state of opinion in 
the border States. Dr. Backus thinks he has abundant opportunity to know 
better the state of feeling in Maryland than I ; and the brethren from Mis- 
souri and Kentucky think the same in regard to themselves. I will not quar- 
rel with them, but will say that I shall not be surprised if four out of the six 
Presbyteries in Kentucky represented here, shall vote for the paper. It is 
not calculated to produce irritation except in the minds of men gone beyond 
tiie point of recovery. 

Dr. McPheeters has rightly said that this was a religious paper — it is a 
paper on the Church, and there is no politics in it except so far as politics 
belongs to religion. My young brother from Missouri, who is originally from 
Kentucky, I judge, by his smartness, is of the same opinion. It is said in 
the beginning of the paper, which portion Dr. Backus proposes to retain, 
that it is delivered "in the name and by the authority of the glorified Savior 
of sinners, who is also the sovereign ruler of the universe." If this latter 
clause is true, their whole attempt to establish a particular view of the 
Church falls to the ground. Is, or is not, the Lord Christ, as head of the 



44 DEBATE IN THE PRESBYTERIAN GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 

Church, King and head Lord of all thino;8 ? Has God given him, as head of 
the Church, power over all things ? If that is so, this paper is a religious 
paper; if not, their doctrine of the temporal and spiritual powers, as at- 
tempted to be taught here, is utterly without foundation in Scripture. It is 
Jesus Christ who is Lord of this Government, and he has laid upon that 
Government certain duties, and upon you the exposition of these duties, if 
you are his ministers. Your authority concerning truth is to expound, en- 
force, apply it. As ministers of Christ you are invested with the office of 
instruction, and as elders are invested with the vast extent of kingly power 
over the Church : you come in contact with the world, and are to evangelize 
it. 

A brother says, T undertake to interpret the Constitution of the United 
•States. Well, having sworn to stand by the Constitution, you are perjurers 
if you don't do it. This you say is politics. So be it. Do we not say to the 
American people, Your are bound to obey magistrates ? Are you not judges 
of the moral relations on this subject? The principles upon which the juris- 
diction of the Church is based, are perfectly clear. For example, in the 
matter of marriage, the Church has moral duties to perform, and the State 
civil duties ; the State has certain claims in relation to servitude, and the 
Church certain duties in enforcing the moral relations of servant and mas- 
ter. 

But my time is up, and I can only add, that if we have any power to pre- 
scribe moral conduct; if we have any power to denounce drunkenness, or 
any other evil, then we have a right to do anything attempted to be done in 
this paper. I could not help thinking how difficult it was for any brother to 
find fault with any point in it. Brother Backus took a short cut, and with 
scissors, clipped it to dimensions to suit his views; that was the only way it 
could be done. In this action you will be making history that will live as 
long as the Church ; you are not acting alone in view of what may happen 
in Kentucky, or Missouri, or Maryland; but in view of results to the whole 
broad continent, you are acting for God and his Church. There never was 
a crisis in the history of the Church of the living God where it was more im- 
portant that you should act aright, and do that which commends itself to 
the better judgment. Remember that a peculiar characteristic of the Pres- 
byterian Church is that it has been a witnessing Church; it has stood for the 
truth, upheld the truth; that when we have prospered we have not departed 
from it, and when we have walked in fiery trials we have borne our testimony 
to the truth. Having descended from the martyrs, I don't intend to be charged 
with having failed to do my duty. Let us not tell a part of the truth, and 
slide over the rest, but as living and dying men say what we believe is true, 
and stand by it. The position of those who oppose this paper is, that if the 
Lord will only hold back a while, and let them do this thing in their own 
way, they will do it a good deal better than He has advised them by the 
truths of His word. 



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